Thales has released a software solution for its PayShield 9000 hardware security module (HSM) that is designed to make it simpler for card issuers to manage the process of provisioning customers’ card data onto NFC phones over-the-air (OTA).

“Today’s mobile payments issuers have to use multiple core cryptographic function calls to build the data needed to issue a payment application and to create the secure messages required to personalize the mobile phone with the application over-the-air,” says Thales. “This approach can be lengthy, inefficient, and less secure as it can potentially expose sensitive data.”

With Thales’ new solution, which conforms to GlobalPlatform standards, these multiple steps are replaced by a single dedicated cryptographic hardware security module call. In essence, Jose Diaz, director of technical and strategic business development at Thales e-Security told NFC World, the HSM takes in standard card data from an issuer’s database at one end, converts it into highly encrypted data and then forwards it for secure provisioning onto a customer’s NFC phone.